Shaw was the acting chief of police for the Prospect Police Department in Jefferson County, Kentucky at the time. Asst. Chief Shaw resigned in November after being suspended for the messages. Although no official reason is given (I bet you can figure it out), the recruit was not hired by the Louisville Metro Police.

Assistant Chief Shaw’s response was: “Fuck the right thing. If black shoot them.” The recruit also questioned what should be done with the hypothetical murdered teens’ parents. In response, Shaw followed up by advising him: “If mom is hot then fuck her. If dad is hot then handcuff him and make him suck my dick. Unless daddy is black. Then shoot him.”

In another exchange, the recruit jokes about buying all the houses around Assistant Chief Shaw’s and rent them to people through the “Section 8” program that provides government subsidies to low income residents. Shaw’s responses are “I like thugs sex anyways” and once again insinuating a desire for race-based violence: “I need target practice.”

One of the racist Facebook messages between Chief Todd Shaw and an unnamed recruit.

Other messages, such as the one pictured to the right, joked about racial stereotypes and included negative references to Martin Luther King: “ML King was nothing but a raciast (sic) womanizer … but because someone shot him, I get a day off with pay each year.”

The messages from Shaw, who had been a police officer for just under thirty years, were exposed by Mike O’Connell, the Jefferson County Attorney, who was seeking evidence of whether he had interfered with an unrelated investigation of sexual abuse within the Metro Police Explorer Program (a youth indoctrination and recruitment program for the police) at the time.

Shaw’s lawyer attempted to prevent the messages from being made public after local media submitted Open Records Act requests. Among other things, he argued that the messages were exchanged privately between Shaw and the recruit and a lot of the messages included the internet slang “LOL” after them. According to attorney Michael Burns they were “just playing.”

O’Connell responded, “Any individual who shares such blatant racist views should not be given a badge, a gun and a position of authority. This type of bias from one officer gives a black eye to the countless policemen and women who do great work in our community each day.” He has also indicated that prosecutors have dropped 24 cases that would have relied primarily on testimony from Assistant Chief Shaw, as a result of the messages.

Judge Judith McDonald-Burkman denied Shaw’s motion to keep the messages private stating, “The documents reveal opinions and prejudices that bring into question Shaw’s integrity as a law enforcement officer who has been entrusted to serve and protect all members of society.” She also noted that those concerns were “magnified by his rank.”

Kelly is a lifelong resident of Las Vegas, who’s been very active in local grassroots activism, as well as on a national level during his extensive travels. He’s also the founder/main contributor of Nevada Cop Block, served as editor/contributor at CopBlock.org and designed the Official Cop Block Press Passes. ____________________________________________________________________________ Connect with Kelly at these social networks; Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.